FOREST TAXATION IN THE UNITED STATES 319 
VII-2. The requirements for continued classification are as follows: The 
initial qualifications must be maintained so far as they are applicable. The 
property must be maintained as a wood lot and must not be used for the pasturage 
of livestock until 90 percent of the trees are 2 inches in diameter, and then only 
under regulations of the State board of agriculture. The forest must be kept 
fully stocked and must be restocked after cutting in a manner to conform with 
the regulations of the State board of agriculture. The supervisor or assessor 
personally examines each private reservation when the real estate is assessed for 
taxation [every year] to determine whether it meets the qualifications required 
by this act. The law contains no provision with reference to the effect upon 
classification of transfer of the property. 
VII-3. Declassification is effected either by the owner’s withdrawal or by his 
failure to comply with the requirements of classification. A declassification tax 
is imposed equivalent in amount to the yield tax on the timber standing on the 
property at the time of declassification. 
NEW HAMPSHIRE. FOREST-TREE EXEMPTION, PASSED IN 1923, AMENDED IN 1925 
Public Laws of New Hampshire, 1926, chapter 60, sections 27—43. 
I-II. On properties classified as ‘‘classified forest lands”’, the standing forest 
trees are not taxed under the general property tax. Only the land value of ‘‘clas- 
sified forest land” is included in the town valuation for the purpose of appor- 
tioning the State and county taxes. Any timber cut is subject to a tax in the 
year when cut, ‘‘at the same valuation as other property”’ [meaning its value as 
personal property after felling, according to an opinion of the attorney general’s 
office rendered in 1927], except that the owner may cut, for his own or a tenant’s 
use, wood not in excess of $50 in stumpage value in any 1 year free of tax. For 
the purpose of this tax, the owner reports the amount cut in each year, from which 
report the assessors may appeal to the State forester, who investigates and holds 
a hearing and renders final decision. Otherwise the operation of the property 
tax is not changed. 
VII-1-a. The initial qualifications for classification are as follows: The area 
that any one owner may classify must not exceed 100 acres in any one town. 
The land must be forest land. The value of the trees, exclusive of fuel wood, 
must not exceed $25 per acre on the average. The forest must be stocked or set 
with young trees so as to promise a minimum prospective average yield of 25,000 
board feet of merchantable timber per acre, exclusive of water, bog, or ledge areas. 
VII-1-b. The procedure of classification is initiated by application of the owner 
to the assessors, or the tax commission for land in unorganized places. The assess- 
ors decide whether the property fulfills the requirements for classification and 
assess the value of the land alone. Upon acceptance of the assessors’ decision by 
the owner, he receives a certificate from the assessors, the recording of which in 
the county registry of deeds effects classification. [Although not specifically so 
stated in the law, it may be assumed that in unorganized places, the assessors’ 
function as here stated is performed by the tax commission.] In case of dispute 
as to the eligibility of the land for classification, the owner may appeal to the 
State forester, who investigates, holds a hearing, and renders final decision. 
VII-—2. The requirements for continued classification are as follows: The initial 
qualifications must be maintained so far as they are applicable. The land must 
not, for a period longer than 2 years, contain on the average as much as 25,000 
board feet of merchantable timber per acre. Transfer of the property does not 
affect classification. 
VII-8. Declassification is effected by the owner’s withdrawal, or by his failure 
to reduce the volume of timber below an average of 25,000 board feet per acre 
within 2 years after notice by the assessors that in their judgment the land con- 
tains this amount of timber, or by action of the assessors 30 days after notifying 
the owner that the property has become more valuable for other uses than the 
production of trees. The owner may appeal from any withdrawal to the State 
forester, whose decision is final. In case of dispute as to the volume of wood or 
timber contained on such land, the owner may appeal to the State forester, who 
investigates and holds a hearing and renders final decision. After declassification 
the entire property becomes subject to the general property tax. Upon with- 
drawal by the owner, he pays the land tax and a tax on the estimated value of 
the standing timber at the same rate as upon other property for that year. 
VIII. If any owner fails to comply with the law he is fined not less than $10 
nor more than $200, and the land may be declassified by the assessors. 
